As will be seen below, the apparatus of the present invention incorporates a tow rope rewind mechanism utilizing an electric motor to rotate a spool to rewind a tow rope. Such feature, in general, is known. The following patents are believed to be representative of the current state of the prior art in this field: U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,588, issued Nov. 5, 2002, U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,219, issued May 27, 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,282, issued Jun. 9, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,648, issued Mar. 31, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,238,200, issued Aug. 24, 1993, U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,777, issued Dec. 19, 1989, U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,425, issued Jun. 22, 1976, U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,213, issued Jul. 4, 1978 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,496, issued Jan. 9, 1979.
Typically, rewinding by an electric motor is initiated and stopped by a manually operated switch. This can cause problems. Continued energization of the rewinder motor after a tow rope is completely wound about an associated spool can cause the motor to burn out or some other type of structural failure. Furthermore, if a skier or wakeboarder is at the trailing or distal end of the tow line during the rewinding operation, continued powered rewinding after a skier goes down and does not let go of the tow rope or an object or person in the boat or water is snagged can have serious consequences. High tensional forces developed in the tow rope due to such circumstances can lead to structural failure and damage or personal injury.